Blackheart
by Cursed Psycho
Summary: Victoria Shepard; the underling of a gang lord who's just in it to survive. Tali'Zorah; a quarian who was banished from the flotilla for her father's treason. When these two meet, there souls are forever interwoven. AU, OOC, and Tali x FemShep.


**So, this is obviously the first story I've ever posted on this site. I don't know if anyone will like this story, but I do. I haven't yet decided if I should continue this, I guess that will be based off of any reviews I receive. And, without further input from me, here it is.**

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**"W...Why?..." The man sputtered, red tinging his spittle as he desperately tried to form words. He grasp at the wound over his heart, his dress blues stained an ugly shade of red. My turian partner simply shot him in the head, ending the man's existence. **

**"Oh fuck..." I whispered, quickly darting out of sight as the body of the Alliance soldier hit the ground. This was BAD. Wait... No, scratch that, this was terrible. This was supposed to be a simple robbery, why the hell did the soldier have to be here? What's more, why did we have to kill him? I didn't like death, I never had, having watched my mother being brutally killed in an explosion. **

**"Shepard? Where the fuck are you, you stupid bitch?" This growl came from my partner, a grumpy turian by the name of Sovereign. He was about as sharp as a sledgehammer, truth be told. **

**My breath caught as he walked by the shuttered closet I was hiding inside of. This wasn't part of the plan. People would ask question, and they'd lead straight to us, then to the gang leader. Sovereign wasn't smart, but he was cruel and efficient, and I knew what he'd do to me to keep the heat off of the gang. He'd kill me, then hide my body, along with the soldier's, and feed the gang any number of bullshit stories. My eyes darted to the soldiers hand cannon, then to Sovereign. I took a chance and leapt out of the closet for the weapon, only to have a scaly hand wrap around my ankle. **

**"There you are you bi-" I lashed out blindly with my free leg, catching him under the mandible, and he staggered back, hissing in rage. By the time he'd regathered what little intelligence he possessed, I had the gun pointed at him, my hands shaking. He chuckled nervously. **

**"Now, now. We can talk things thro- " He had began to step forward, and had stepped on a creaky board and I had, due to my rattled nerves, clinched my hands- and the gun went off, and into Sovereign's chest. He gasped, clutching his chest as he stared at me, dazed.**

**"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..." I whispered, tears leaking from my eyes, as I stared at him. He dropped to one knee, and stared at me, puzzled. He braced himself on the floor with both arms, looking into my eyes, as his slowly grew darker.**

**"I... I..." His mandibles moved lazily, and his eyelids drooped. Finally, he gave out, collapsing forward. He lay still, unmoving. And then I did the only thing I could think off; run. I bolted out of the back door, and into a nearby alley way. I ran continuously for twenty minutes, no thought or idea of where I was going, only that I had to leave. My chest heaving, my heart trying to punch a hole in my chest, my legs finally buckled and gave out, just as my left foot caught on something that was on the ground.**

**I feel on my face, but quickly, got up, and looked at what I had tripped over. It was... /She/ was a quarian, and was wearing a very dirty, very worn, enviro suit, though it looked as if it still worked, if only barely. She was looking at me with silvery, glowing eyes from under her hazy purple visor. Her eyes conveyed a fear and mistrust but also, to my surprise, curiosity. Since when were quarians interested in humans? They were usually rather mistrustful, though with good reason. **

**"Are you okay? I didn't mean to-" Her voice was so... rich and calming, and it seemed to demand my rapt attention. She froze as I shifted into a sitting position, and her eyes focused on a point on the ground to my left. I, confused, looked to the object that held the quarian's attention. My firearm. She was shaking in fright, and when I reached for it, she started crying, rather loudly. **

**"Please, please don't kill me! Please..." She whispered, the sadness clashing with her rich accent in a way I didn't like. Immediately abandoning all thought of the pistol, I slowly crawled toward her. **

**"Hey... Hey, I'm not going to kill you..." I whispered, and I could see one off her gorgeous eyes peak open.**

**"Y-you're... Not?" She asked, and I heard her sniffle. **

**"Nope." I said bluntly, and she seemed to relax. After a bit of an awkward silence, she shuddered, drawing my attention to her. "Are you cold?"**

**"... Maybe a l-little..." She whispered, and as I started to shrug off my jacket, she looked at me, confused, with an undertone of nervousness. I looked away from her gorgeous eyes quickly as I handed it to her, stomach aflutter. **

**"Your enviro suit doesn't have a heating system, I can tell, so you can have this." She hesitantly took it from my hand, and wrapped it around her thin frame. After a moment she looked at me.**

**"What's your n-name?" She asked rather shyly, only one sniffle being any indication she had cried. **

**"Victoria Shepard. And yours?" I asked, scooting a little closer to her as the wind blew, chilling me. **

**"T-Tali' Zorah." Her voice broke when she said the word 'Zorah,' and I filed it away for future reference. I yawned tiredly and, knowing I couldn't return to the base, I lay down on the dirty ground, propped up against a the wall of the alley, gun cradled in my hand. **

**"W-what are you doing? Don't you have a h-home?" Once again, her voice broke, this time on 'home.' **

**"No," I whispered, looking at her," Not anymore..." **

**"Me neither..." She whispered and I saw her silvery eyes turn watery. I hated seeing the shy quarian cry already. **

**"Hey. Tali." I whispered, grabbing her her hand, and once I was sure I had her attention I continued. "How about we make a deal? You be my friend, and I'll be yours. Whenever one of us is down, the other will comfort them. I don't know if you'll ever leave for something better, but until then, let's stick together... Okay?" **

**"You... Really? Even if I'm a... a filthy quarian?" **

**"Hey, you are not filthy. Maybe unclean, but not filthy..." She giggled, she actually giggled at my lame joke, and this bewildered me. I could get used to this. She yawned involuntarily, and stretched a little. I smiled.**

**"Alright, bed time for the aliens." I whispered to her, patting her shoulder watching as she rested against the wall opposite me, and only after her eyes slid closed, did I allow mine to do the same. I don't know why, but she made me nervous, but in a good way. I felt oddly protective, and knew instinctively, that I would give my life to save hers. **

**About ten minutes later, I felt something brush againts my right side. Immediately my head snapped to the side, my eyes flew open and my hand grasped at the pistol. **

**Tali jumped back, frightened. **

**"I-I-I'm sorry! I was just c-cold!" She whimpered, looking fearfully at me. **

**"Tali, I'm sorry. I... Thought it was something else." After a moment of staring at her, I opened my arms wide, and she stared at me, as if asking if it were truly okay. I nodded. Immediately, she bolted into my arms and snuggled into my chest. **

**"Keelah, you're w-warm..." She whispered, almost silently, as I wrapped my arms around her narrow waist, and the last sounds I heard before I fell asleep was the gentle beat of Tali's heart and the whir of her even breathing. **

**The Next Day**

**I awoke to the sound of footfalls, and my hand clinched the handle of my firearm whilst I flipped open my wrist blade. It was a simple steel blade attached to a simple leather gauntlet.**

**"Tali... Tali, wake up. Come on, we need to move!" I whispered shaking her hurridley, eyes darting around for the threat, and once I saw what I was I gasped, and shouldered the sleeping quarian, arms around her legs. And then all hell broke lose. Shots erupted from the group of gang members that I had seen, narrowly missing me as I rounded a corner, placing Tali down, before returning fire from around the corner.**

**"Victoria, what's going on? Shepard!?" She sounded frightened. I turned to her, eyes blazing.**

**"Get the hell out of here Tali! Run, and I'll... I'll buy you some time." I would probably die here, but I would at least save her. She looked hesitant. I pushed her a little, and that seemed to get her legs moving, as she bolted down the alley way, and into the shadows. I slammed a button on my shoulder down, and heard the accompanying hiss as my armor plates slid out, and the helmet over my head. I took a deep breath, and bolted around the corner, hand cannon alive in my shaking hands.**

**Bullets slammed into my ablative armour, but some found there way to the soft parts of my body. I ducked behind cover, body sluggish, and adrenaline pumping. Off the five original members of the squad, only two were left. I may not like killing, but I knew how, as being an convict required you to nowadays. Firing from cover, I hit one between the eyes, but got a shotgun blast to the shoulder for my troubles. I screamed, and grasp my shoulder, blood running down my body and pooling in my armor. The blast had melded some parts of the armor to my body, resulting in a grotesque wound that left me feeling nauseated. Having been caught up in trying to staunch the blood flow, I never noticed the last man's approach until he pressed his shotguns barrel into my shoulder and twisted harshly. I screamed again, and he punched me in the face, and pressed the barrel to my neck, before a voice, eerily familiar in its accent, caught his attention. I took the chance and, as he aimed at Tali, I grabbed the stogun's barrel and pressed it i to my stomach as I put my gun in his eye. He fired at nearly the same time as I did, and I heard Tali's wail as the man slumped against the opposite wall, the back of his head leaking off the wall.**

**"Victoria, Victoria, why?" She asked hovering over me, unsure of what to do. **

**"F-for... Y... You..." I wheezed out, before spitting up blood. As if stricken, she flew into action. Using a wrist laser or something, she melted through my armor, but it would burn my skin. Weird. My mind was hazy and sluggish as she pried off my chest piece, revealing my bare chest to her and I swear, I heard her breath catch, before she shook her head vigorously and peeled the rest of my clothes off, leaving me in only my panties. Her breath hitched, probably from all of my scars, or maybe the extent of my wounds. **

**"Shepard..." She whispered in shock, hand on my heavily bruised abdomen. **

**Shaking her head again, she bandaged my shoulder with supplies scavenged from one of the dead that lay in the alley. She slowly wrapped my abdomen, which hadn't been blown apart by the shotgun, thanks to extremely thick plating in that area, though not unwounded. A deep bruise covered the entire area, and at least four of the pellets and sunk into my flesh. After wrapping all of my extensive wounds, she caressed my face... I think. By this time, I was pretty out of it, and watched as she raided the bodies, again, before coming back with a hand full of clothes. I looked at her. **

**"... I'm not sure how to feel about this." I said, eyeing the clothing. **

**"Shepard, they're dead. They don't need them, and neither do yo- I-I'm mean y-you need something to w-wear!" She sputtered out hastily, shoving toe clothes into my arms and stiffly walking off. **

**Once I was dressed, I ALSO payed the dead baddies a visit. As I searched their, bodies Tali slowly walked over, eyeing me warily. **

**"What are yo-" She was cut off as I gave a small cry of triumph. I held out my hand, and showed her what I had; a hand full of credits. After searching all of there bodies, I sat down, shocked. "They... They were trying to kill me... Fucking idiots. Tali." I called softly, grasping the quarian's attention. "Whatcha doin'?" **

**"Working on an omni-tool I found on one of... them." She gestured to the dead guys, who I had put in a dumpster. Tali also had a shotgun slung over her should and a machine pistol at her waist. I still had my pistol, in addition to a rifle, and sniper rifle. **

**"Oh. Tali, the had 50,000 credits altogether. That's a little much for little me isn't it?" I asked, not comprehending why I had warrented such a contract. **

**"Evidently not, as they're dead and you, well you aren't." I could detect an ofd lit in her words, one that betrayed she wasn't happy at the moment. Probably angry from being shot at. **

**"Tali is... Something wrong?" I asked, somewhat hesitantly. She looked up from the omni-tool she was looking through, and into my eyes. I wish I could lose myself in those beautiful, sliver orbs of hers...**

**"I, well, it's just um... Where did you get all of your scars?" She said this so quickly I almost didn't catch it, and I looked into her eyes, searching a bit deeper. I sighed, finding nothing but honest curiosity, even a little concern and, dare I think it... affection.**

**"Tali... Before we m-meet, I was... In a gang." I whispered in a resigned tone, ready for her now inevitable leave. Curse my honesty. She gasped sharply, shocked. **

**"Shepard... Why?" She whispered, almost brokenly. My head swiveled to look at her almost fast enough to give myself whiplash. **

**"I didn't have a choice. It was that, s-selling my body, or... death." I murmured, a single year trailing down my no doubt grimy cheek. It was my turn to be shocked as she straddled my waist, and gently, almost bordering on lovingly, whipped my tear away. She rested her visor on my forehead, and I could make out most of her face. **

**Her face was all soft, delicate lines, almost like she was hand crafted by some god. Her lips were so full, and slightly parted revealing her oh so white teeth. I moved my gaze up to her small nose, sorely tempted to kiss it, and were the visor not barring my way, I would have. Her eyebrows flowed smoothly, melding with some design or other to produce a unique look that just seemed to be so... Tali. Finally, my eyes dropped down to hers, my body wanting to react to such close proximity and yet, I resisted. **

**"Shepard... Our pasts don't make us who we are, tgey merely shape the many molds for that which we can become... I w-want you to keep that in mind for my s-story." And so she launched into a tale about how she was branded a traitor, but unlike her father, was not killed only banished. How she had hid in a cargo bay for two weeks before ending up on earth.**

**By the end of her story, she was sobbing quietly into my shoulder, arms around my shoulders whilst mine were wrapped tightly around her waist, holding her close. And I would never, for as long as I was able and alive, let go of her, because I had unknowingly fallen in love with her the very first moment that she had graced my vision with her presence. **


End file.
